THE PERFECT WEEKEND GETAWAY!
Amsterdam
By Marianne Gray
Photography by Bill Russell
see and the Windows where
the prostitutes display
themselves. It’s Amsterdam’s
oldest neighbourhood and is
easy to find as it’s called
exactly that, Red
Light, on the maps.
There are tours of
the area if you feel
a bit squeeky about
tramping there
alone.
T
here’s a word they use to
describe Amsterdam,
gesellig from the German
meaning ‘sociable’. Calm,
Comfortable,
Companionable.
A long weekend in Amsterdam
is as good as a holiday. Built on
a network of canals lined with
gorgeous, narrow 17th Century
houses with amazing gables,
there are more than 1,000
bridges spanning canals, 200
coffee shops (where you can
often get weed), many on
lovely squares, and endless
rumbling trams snaking through
town, clanging. Downtown
Amsterdam is a crazy blend of
buildings, classical
architecture, neo-romantic,
domes, gables, steeples and
towers. And shops that sell
cannabis, Dutch beer and the
GIN, Jenever, Holland’s
national spirit since around the
17th Century.
The obvious first thing to do in
Amsterdam is take a boat trip
around the canals. There are
165 canals that flow like
ribbons, covering about 31
miles. A one hour guided trip
will set you up to master this
complex city riddled with tiny
streets.
Most people who visit
Amsterdam go to the fabulous
Rijks Museum to see
Rembrandt’s famous
Nightwatch and Vermeer’s Milk
Maid. The Museum has been
recently renovated and is
packed with great stuff but it’s
hell to queue for a ticket (E20)
and their
signage is, at
best, mediocre.
(If it’s
Rembrandt
you’re after, why
not visit his
house where he
lived and worked
for nearly two
decades. It’s in
Jodenbreestraat
and entrance is
E14.) The Rijks
Museum is
massive and
could take the best part of a
day. Conveniently there’s a
gorgeous park right next to it
where you can loll and watch
dancing fountains before you
set off for the nearby Van Gogh
Museum with the largest
collection of his paintings in the
world.
But of course, it’s the Red
Light District we all want to
Visit The London & UK DatebooK on www.thedatebook.co.uk
As the book says,
there are sex shops,
women for sale, lots
of leather, fetish
stores and sex
theatres. It seems
odd to find this in
such a pretty, innocent-looking
city but it’s been there for
about 500 years. We went on
a Sunday midday and most of
the windows were empty
because, we were told, the
girls had gone to church.
Foolishly, I tried to photograph
a window that did have a girl in
it and she kicked the door
frame, screamed at me and
pulled the curtain. I did not
know (at that stage of
the visit) that you
may NOT photograph
the girls.
If you’ve read the
book, Midwinter
Break by Bernard
MacLaverty, then you
know about a
Scottish couple who
go to Amsterdam for
a long weekend and
the wife
unexpectedly finds
the oldest house in
Amsterdam, Houten Huis built
in 1420s. It’s a narrow black
wooden house just off a
magnificent square opposite
the English Reformed Church
in the centre of town and
hidden behind a small door on
Begijnhof 34 and it is well
worth finding. As is the Anne
Frank Huis in Prinsengracht
263-267, where the young
Jewish wartime diarist wrote.
Tickets only available online ().
(generally tickets tend to be
cheaper online).
As there are hardly any cars in
Amsterdam – just trams and
taxis – everyone walks or rides
cycles at speed along cycle
routes. As a pedestrian you
could fall under a tram but
Amsterdammers are very polite
and gracious and it’s highly
unlikely you’d be struck down
by a cyclist! If you were, you’d
need to relax in the nearest
cafe in a sunny square and
have a Dutch coffee and a
jenever gin, or several!
Amsterdam is not cheap. If you
buy a City Pass some museums
etc are free. A multi-day Tram
Ticket can be bought on the
tram which has a helpful
conductor behind a desk
onboard. And ask hotels for
maps with discounts marked on
them.
Amsterdam Tourist Office:
www.amsterdam.info/tips/
touristoffice
THE LONDON & UK DATEBOOK
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